I don’t care if I destroy my podcast, as long as I slaughter all of you!
Welcome to the final episode of Fanbruary, which happens to be in March, but February is a short month so cut us some slack. In this episode, we’re going to be talking about The Bouncer, a weird little 3D beat ‘em up from Square and the first game they released on PS2. This game feels like a release that was feeling out what could be done on the new hardware, that Square would eventually put to use in the games that would define their presence in this console generation. And because of the success of games like Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy X, this game tends to slip, largely forgotten, into history. Now, I’m not here to say that this is a big tragedy, on the contrary, this is an extremely odd game with a pretty niche audience who is going to really engage with it. But if you find yourself in that audience, or if you’re looking for an experience that seems to defy explanation both in its narrative and by its very existence, this game might be worth checking out. We’re going to be talking about how buck wild the story can get at times, the impressive technical elements of the game, and how old you have to be to undergo Kung-Fu training.
Thank you for joining us this week! This is our last episode that was explicitly listener suggested, but stick around, particularly if you made suggestions, because some of them will worm their way into our schedule one way or another. Did you play the Bouncer when it came out, or is this a totally new experience for you? Did you go through the game a hundred times to unlock all the playable characters and their moves? What bouncer rank are you? Let us know over in Discord or in the comments below. Next time, we’re going to be talking about Shovel Knight, another game we have had on our list for some time, but now seemed like the best time to pull it out. Something about a grand fantasy quest just feels right post February 25th for some reason…oh well.